Life science makes life better

China attaches great importance to the development of life sciences and biotechnology, and is promoting the rapid progress of research and related industries in the field of life sciences through scientific and technological innovation. In recent years, a number of important innovative achievements and breakthroughs have been made in genome and protein science, brain science, primate cloning, immunology, induced pluripotent stem cells, super hybridization, tissue and organ engineering, vaccines for emerging infectious diseases, and anti-tumor drugs, which have played a positive role in international scientific progress and the improvement of people's lives and health. It should be emphasized that basic research in life sciences is still the source of leading the application and transformation of biotechnology in all aspects, and governments need to attach great importance to it and increase support.

In the 21st century, life science has become the mainstream of science, and its intersection with big data, artificial intelligence, engineering science and other disciplines will fundamentally solve many major problems faced by human society.

I would like to make two proposals. First, we need to strengthen international exchanges and cooperation to raise the level of life science research. Life science is an important science related to human survival, health and sustainable development. To promote global exchanges and cooperation in the field of life science, non-academic factors should not interfere with it. Scientists from all countries should enhance the awareness of a community of shared future for mankind, target the frontier of life sciences and the major needs of biotechnology, build an all-dimensional, multi-level and institutionalized exchange platform, share results, work together, continuously improve the level of life science research, and pay attention to the training of life science talents from developing countries. We will actively respond to the common challenges facing the survival and development of mankind with more scientific breakthroughs and innovations.

Second, promote scientific and technological innovation and promote the transformation of life science achievements. The ultimate goal of scientific research is to benefit mankind. The scientific community and industry should vigorously promote research and development of life sciences and related technologies, strengthen cutting-edge and original joint research, and continue to promote the depth and brightness of the transformation of scientific and technological achievements, strive to solve the challenges common to mankind such as a healthy environment, and provide more public goods for the betterment of mankind. At the same time, it will also contribute more new drivers to global economic growth.

David Baltimore, 1975 Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine:

The development of life science is a very wonderful process of exploration

The World Life Sciences Congress is a good time for scientists to review and look ahead to the life sciences.

In the 1950s and 1960s, we began to study how molecular techniques could change the understanding of biological systems. We were very surprised and confused, because we knew about gene technology, we knew that genes were important for the growth of organisms, but we didn't know what the mechanism was, and we had no way to connect genes to the chemistry of life.

Then Craik discovered the structure, which is a very important development, telling us that chemistry is related to genetic material, but to our surprise it is much closer to information technology, not the so-called chemical chain mechanism that we are familiar with.

Later life science became AGCT, not a normal chemical language. This is really a turning point in human history, and it tells us that there are mechanisms in biological systems that we didn't know existed before, in fact a set of codes. And then there was a period of time when we understood how to make changes and adjustments to DNA, and by the year 2000, we had seen the sequencing of the human genome, and we had the tools to describe and reprogram DNA.

Until the 1970s, we didn't know whether cancer was a genetic problem or an environmental problem, and now we know that genes play a major role, so the development of the life sciences has given us a very wonderful process of exploration that continues today.

If we look forward, we're going to see a lot of new technologies, including things like gene sequencing, but also protein structure, stem cell sequencing, and we're going to see another trend here, where we're starting to move away from model systems and start to look at the whole structure of biotechnology.

Synthetic technology is also at the heart of future biotechnology, and will continue to be, because its potential is unlimited. For scientists, it also presents a challenge. We can use it to treat diseases that are difficult to cure, especially neurological diseases. It also addresses the biggest challenge of the future, where we need to learn more about the brain and translate that understanding into our treatment of some neurological diseases.